Focus on changing labour market demands and skills

Expatriate income is very important in the economy of Bangladesh. Our one of the sources of foreign exchange earnings is the export of manpower.

Saudi Arabia has always been the largest labour market for Bangladesh.

Along with it was the Middle Eastern country of Oman and Kuwait. Malaysia also once became popular with the country’s migrant workers.

Sadly, in the past, there have been allegations of various irregularities and corruption, including syndicates, in the labour market.

In October 2023, Oman’s labor market was closed due to allegations of corruption and irregularities.

Seven months later, the Malaysian labour market was closed on May 31 last year on the same charges. The United Arab Emirates government has unofficially stopped issuing visas to Bangladeshi workers.

Immigration experts say, the closure of these three labour markets preferred by Bangladeshi workers has created pressure on the Saudi labour market.

Of the 120,876 workers who left in the first two months of this year, 76,618 left in January and 44,258 in February.

The Bangladesh Manpower, Employment and Training Bureau (BMET) believes that the closure of Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the reduction in the number of workers going to Kuwait, Jordan, South Korea, the UK and the pressure on Saudi Arabia have not had any impact on the labour market.

The number of workers going to Qatar, Singapore, Italy and Japan has increased.

Once upon a time, there was an opportunity to export manpower to various European countries.

Our market, outside of the conventional market, is Europe. The big problem in the European market is that many countries that hire Bangladeshi workers do not have Bangladesh embassies.

The major problem for Bangladesh in terms of manpower export is the lack of skilled and trained workers. In the reality of the international labor market, Bangladeshi workers are relatively unskilled.

As a result, it is not possible to export manpower to countries that have the opportunity to export skilled manpower.

We now need to focus on changing labour market demands and skills. In today’s global reality, the value of educated and skilled people is increasing. Skilled manpower can create employment opportunities in their respective fields.

Therefore, we need to develop our manpower in line with the developing world. If we can increase the export of skilled manpower, remittances will also increase.